French Historical Fiction

“The manuscripts make no mention as to how one changes from man to spirit. I have been looking for such an answer all this time. And these are the 72 mighty Kings and Princes commanded into this vessel of brass together with their legions. Belial, Bileth, Asmoday and Gaap were the four King Chiefs. Their souls were bound into this vessel because of their pride and for no other reason”, said Max.

“Now that we will have to finish later. Right now we need to do something new and it is for my Father. He asked of me to read an several manuscripts along with an inscription to a vessel his archeologist had found. The vessel has very much been a prized possession in my father’s family for centuries. And finally it has been found,” said Maurice.

“Lucien. If I get this right, Father said I could keep the house. I need to do all I can to make all this work. Especially for me and my mother. We do not own a home of our own!,” said Max.

Max noticed the clock sitting over the mantle to the fireplace. It was twelve midnight. He also knew that time flew by faster than he had ever known it. His days as a sizar at Cambridge were over and no more would he be working against anyone else’s clock except his own. What a wonderful feeling that was to him. He had the freedom he had never known: the freedom of time. — Excerpt from Marceau – French Historical Fiction Novel #histfic #histfict #ya

Dear Readers to Marceau (the official blog site for Marceau the historical fiction novel),

I recommend highly you access my blog directly via http://mauricemarceau.net. The postings and my replies are easier to read! If I do not get to your reply please bear with me! And you all need to be reminded that we are currently under a mercury retrograde until November 11th. For those of you who read my novel, you know I have a penchant for astronomy via my character Maximilien (Max).

Thank You!

Thelma Benison, Author of Marceau e-book available on Barnes and Noble.

“Max decided right then to follow through with the texts in the manuscripts. The planetary tables he needed were at university. The manuscripts strictly enforced the use of the rituals during certain hours of the day and night that required careful attention to the phases of the moon and to the risings and settings of the planets as written in the tables he needed. He knew he was out of sync with his planetary observations since all summer he spent with family. He had to get to the university as soon as possible and he knew it was going to be more than a walk across the quadrangle as he was used to. He now had to get used to living far away that any trip he decided upon taking to university would require the use of the carriage as well as its driver and careful planning. He decided to keep the manuscripts in their original form without translation as he wanted to keep this information to himself. One thing he did know. He needed the help of at least one other individual in conducting the planetary rituals.”

Back in the day when interest in the occult was talked about in parlour tables, private dinners and the like, people often expressed the difficulty of the mechanics involved in rituals. By mechanics, I mean, the fasting involved by the executor and the participants , the water (as in a well, or a river nearby), the perfumes (as found in rose oil and other organic substances), the incense, all these in combination with the timing of celestial laws and mother nature. Often, these rituals, were only to be performed at a certain hour every 4 years depending on the celestial path and timing of a certain planet upon its entrance or proximity to a constellation as well as the phases of the moon. Max, like every executor of a planetary ritual, had to prepare himself by going to university and copying the planetary tables provided in the library first. He had to calculate the day of the next full moon, where Jupiter was in terms of its path and calculate when it would enter any part of the constellation of cancer.

“The manuscripts call for me to be within a clearing at the exact time Jupiter first enters the constellation of Cancer. And by my calculcations based upon the tables, that is to occur in the next few weeks despite the timing of any calendar we know of. The planets have their own timetables independent of man’s clocks or world time,” said Max

There is nothing new under the sun as the saying goes. I fully realize contractual marriages exist today. The only thing about them, is knowing that you are entering a commitment either in name only or in some cases for matters that concern public relations. Sometimes the situation works out in time and the person you entered this agreement with becomes a real friend. There are times when one person secretly hopes that the relationship will work. That is a wait and see situation. And there will be times when the situation will not work (as in the beginnings to the marriage with Maurice and Vivienne in my novel Marceau). Vivienne knew she was entering a marriage with a gay/bisexual man. She didn’t care. She turned a blind eye to that because she had her own lover(her first cousin) that she was already in a relationship with prior to this contractual marriage with Maurice. So what does she do? Vivienne never goes into relationship mode with Maurice and leaves him to his male companion(s). He had many prior to meeting Guillaume. She benefitted financially…that is for certain. And never did she think twice about leaving her lover. She knew Maurice wasn’t into sexual relations with her (only enough to produce a son). And Guillaume (Maurice’s companion) was not a threat to her in the least emotionally or physically. She felt more respected by Guillaume and Maurice’s male companions that she did with having another woman. Why? In Vivienne’s case (per her character role in this novel), Vivienne felt more “safe” knowing Maurice was with his male companions than having another woman bear him another family. To Vivienne, another woman was more of a threat because of Maurice having another son or daughter elsewhere. She knew Maurice with all his money and strong political grip could pay his way towards getting divorce as true possibility in France. That Vivienne is something else…let me tell you! I can picture Angelina Jolie as Vivienne…

As in my previous post about my repeated dream on Maurice (my protagonist in Marceau). Despite Maurice telling me in my dream that he was a financier to many heads of state and sovereigns during pre-revolutionary Paris, FR, I decided to make this man quite powerful, contractually married to a woman and with a gay lover and companion. I have been asked by several editors to change Maurice’s sexual preferences to a womanizing male… And I said no. I literally did research the gay life in 1788 Paris, FR and it is unfortunate that divorce was not a possibility because our dear King Louis XVI administered his kingdoms on several of his catholic beliefs. I respect people’s opinions and beliefs about their religion. However. When it came to being a gay man or woman and most especially in the upper echelons of society when people are supposed to be married with children as in 1788, one had to resort to clever tactics on avoiding discovery. Maurice got around all that by having a personal valet as a clever way of disguising Guillaume’s role in his personal life. Don’t always suspect the butler, though…

I have to say that Maurice (my protagonist) came to me in a repeated dream for a period of three years. I kept seeing this man handsomely dressed sitting across me in a carriage which was upholstered so beautifully in silk. He had a powdered wig on and wore a silk blue-grey suit with breeches too. He spoke to me in French and I replied back in French (but I don’t know French!). He kept telling me he was a back-channel financier from France who funded several heads of state and sovereigns. Then he mentioned this war (between Carl Gustav and Katherine the Great) which I wrote about in the book as well) that he allowed to happen and it could have been stopped by him and his peers. I think he felt bad about that. He said he didn’t like war because the soldiers to both sides and their families were the most affected. Their lives shattered and lost to ill health and lack of limb. He told me his name was Maurice Henri something something Marceau (I never got his name correctly — way too long for me to remember even after dreaming this very dream over and over. The dream never changed.